Rodney is the king of tech, no question. Yeah, he invented the flat-ground ollie, which arguably the most influential (and fundamental) trick ever invented, BUT, Natas and Gonz may also hold part of the crown. When Rodney started doing all that shit, it was in the "freestyle" skating context. Natas and Gonz were the first ones to take Rodney's discoveries and apply to the to the street.

Rodney is the king of tech, no question. Yeah, he invented the flat-ground ollie, which arguably the most influential (and fundamental) trick ever invented, BUT, Natas and Gonz may also hold part of the crown. When Rodney started doing all that shit, it was in the "freestyle" skating context. Natas and Gonz were the first ones to take Rodney's discoveries and apply to the to the street.

I remember the first time I saw a heel flip... Natas did it in an Oceanside sreet contest from 1986. He didn't land it along with many other things he tried, lol, but he got close enough that I knew what to do. Later that day, I was outside learning it. The footage is below:

That was the first time a handrail attempt was caught on tape. A truly groundbreaking moment in skate history.

There is a pretty rad mini biography / documentry of Natas on youtube. I think it is 4 parts. Here is a link to the first part. You should be able to find the other three parts off of this one pretty easy. A must see for anyone interested in the roots of modern skating.

And I can't remember if I posted this or not (I think I did), but here is crappy (sideways) clip of me doing a f/s 270 to b/s lip at a local park, circa June 2009. A friend randomly filmed it on his cell phone.